Tuesday, September 6, 2011

How fragile is the system?

Let's imagine a scenario and try to assess how fast the multitude could demolish the system. Hypothetically speaking, the act of personal bankruptcy can one day become an act of rebellion and spread like a wildfire throughout the world. What would be the consequences? How possible is this?

What keeps people that are in debt up to their eyeballs from declaring personal bankruptcy?

One good reason is the loss of their credit rating. But what if there are alternative value exchange mechanisms in place? What about alternative currencies?

Another good reason is the social stigmatization that comes with it - you pass for an irresponsible person. The system has succeeded in making us feel responsible/guilty for all social evil. If you have a bad president it's because you voted for him. If you are poor is because you deserve it. If you have large debts is because you can't manage your finance. Some of that is true, but some if it not.

Another reason is the realization that if we all do it at once the system will collapse and we'll all be in a worse situation. But again, what if there are alternative economic systems emerging, like commons-based peer production? Or what if all of a sudden people stop caring about this, as they normally do during revolutions, when people are ready to give their lives for a better future? This type of collective sacrifice is not a strange phenomena, we see it now in Syria, we saw it in Egypt, I lived it myself in Romania, in December 1989.

Is there enough frustration within the multitude to make it flip from perceiving personal bankruptcy as a stigmatizing act to perceiving it as an act of defiance, something to be proud of? How many people in the US are working two jobs to keep their kids in school and to pay their fully loaded credit cards? How many people don't work at all, because they can't find a job, and live on borrowed money? How many people are frustrated about how the bailout was distributed?

What would it take to trigger this phenomena? I think a single person that knows how to make nice videos and knows how to use social media can turn personal bankruptcy into "salvation", into an act of courage, an act of defiance, an act of rebellion against a system designed to enslave you by debt.

Think about it! How possible is this scenario?

In fact, once you understand the Multitude movement you realize that the system has many more sweet spots. It was not designed to contain coherent and well coordinated masses.